Mariela's Story

Seven months ago, Mission of Hope began serving in the Dominican Republic, and hope.market followed. Within a few short weeks, we had a store and coffee shop up and running with seven Haitian employees. 

As a part of hope.market’s Retail and Hospitality program in the Dominican Republic, our employees are required to attend a weekly staff meeting. It is broken down into two segments—business training and spiritual formation. We review the past week, discussing what went well and what could be improved. We also take a deeper dive into a specific area each week, such as point of sale training, customer service, or how to make a tasty latte.

Then we read the Bible, discuss it, and pray together. Each time these discussions have gone deep. They ask questions, eager to know what things mean or how to apply them to their individual lives. 

Recently after one of our staff meetings, a team member named Mariela started crying. At first we were concerned, but then she said, “The reason I am crying is not because I am sad. The reason I am crying is because I am so thankful. Mission of Hope has changed my life. Not only have I learned so much more about business, but every time we have opened the Bible and read together, I have learned more. My faith has grown so much.”

Your purchases are purposeful. They provide jobs and change lives. Every time you make a purchase from hope.market, your dollar is contributing to something so much bigger than yourself—it is fostering true transformation. 

On behalf of the hope.market team, I want to say thank you! Thank you for being part of what God is doing in the Dominican Republic.